Lok Adalat has emerged lately as a new system of dispensation of justice and

received tremendous response and wide support from different sections of the society.
The system visualized as an alternative dispute settlement mechanism, evolved as a
part of the CILAS programme with the object of taking justice to the doorsteps of the
poor and to give speedy and cheap justice to those who cannot afford to fight the
costly legal battle. Lok Adalat has come to be seen as an institution or an agency, for
handling disputes by conciliation and counseling, a species of peace making. Lok
Adalats do not treat the issues before it as disputes under contest and decide cases, but
treat them as differences and resolve them by conciliatory and persuasive efforts. The
process involves discussing with the parties the pros and cons of their case and
explaining to them advantages and disadvantage of resolving their dispute by
conciliation and compromise, or in the alternative, of resorting to the traditional
dilatory procedure of adversarial litigation in regular Courts. The process of
participatory justice is a unique feature of this institution. Dispute in the Lok Adalats
is resolved by discussion in an informal atmosphere, in which parties and panel
members of the Lok Adalat participate, and settlement is reached with the mutual and
free consent of the parties. Unlike in litigations concluded in our regular Courts, being
in the nature of compromises, there is no winner and no loser in a mediated resolution
of dispute by Lok Adalats. The intention being to help warring parties to work things
out, shake hands, and become friends (or not enemies again), resolution of disputes in
Lok Adalat, is more likely to bring or keep people together and, therefore, more
conducive to harmonies. There has been in the last few years a growing interest in the
institution and it has emerged as a forum for alternative dispute resolution, to
supplement the existing justice delivery system. These forums based on the concept of
dispute settlement mechanism by way of counseling persuasion and conciliation,
function as peacemaker, and are intended to work informally with simplified
procedure.
As part of CILAS programme, lok adalats (Peoples’ Court) were constituted and
niti melas were organized at various places in the country, under the supervision of
State Legal Aid and Advice Boards, for the disposal, in a summary way and through
the process of arbitration and settlement between the parties, of a large number of
cases expeditiously and with lessor costs. The organizers of the Lok Adalats, fixed the
date and place of the holding of Lok Adalats about a month in advance. Information
about the holding of Lok Adalat was widely publicized through press and other means
of publicity. Presiding Officers of various Courts were requested to look into the cases
pending in their respective Courts and to see whether there was possibility of
conciliation in these cases. Such of those cases where there was reasonable possibility
of conciliation were identified and listed. Cases were analyzed, classified under
various heads according to the nature of dispute and substance recorded. Then, pre-
Lok Adalat conferences were held and parties to the dispute were approached and
motivated by the legal aid teams, which included, law students, social workers and
volunteers to resolve their disputes through Lok Adalats. Before the case was taken up
by the Lok Adalat, the mediation process or justice process through Lok Adalat was
initiated by way of thorough discussion with the parties as to the details of the case
and desirability of conciliation and compromise and the scope of a settlement
mutually acceptable to the parties was assessed. The team involved in the mediation
or Lok Adalat justice process, consisted of the members of local Legal Aid
Committee, advocates, spirited public men or elders of the locality or social activists
and called conciliators. This process was continued and resumed at the campsite of
the Lok Adalat. Once parties had made a compromise or arrived at a settlement, it was
reduced into writing by members of the panel of the Lok Adalat, signatures of the
parties were obtained and countersigned by the members of the panel and passed on to
the Court concerned for final decree or order. Multiple panels, according to the need
of the Lok Adalat, were set up. These panels or members of Lok Adalat consisted of
two or three persons, one of them could be a retired judge or a senior retired civil
servant or an advocate, a law teacher, and others, social workers and eminent persons
of the locality, carefully chosen by the Local Aid Committees on the basis of their
record of public services, honesty and respectability among local population,
supposed to be good conciliators, concerned with the cause of social justice and
sympathetic to people’s problem. When the compromise so arrived at was presented
before the Court concerned, the Court was expected to look into the question whether
all the parties to the suit were entering into settlement or compromise, examine the
fairness and legality of the settlement or compromise, and satisfy itself that
compromise had been arrived at by free and mutual consent of the parties. After this
process of due verification of the compromise made or settlement arrived at by the
parties, decree or orders were passed in terms of the settlement or compromise.
Importance of the institution of Lok Adalat in the present context: The
revolutionary evolution of resolution of dispute by one or other means, Alternate
Dispute Redressal (A.D.R.) mechanism, has been, successfully, translated in various
countries. While, in India, roughly, 91 percent of cases instituted in the Courts go for
trial and only 9 percent of cases are settled without judicial agitation, in U.S. A., more
than 90 percent of cases involving legal disputes are settled before they go for trial.
The institution of Lok Adalat has been acknowledged as an effective Alternate
Dispute Redressal agency and gaining wide acceptability. More and more people are
choosing this forum to help settlement of dispute through negotiation, counseling,
conciliation, settlement and compromise than to go for a verdict through court. It
provides a quicker remedy, it is less expensive, less time consuming, does not permit
dilatory tactics of parties to prolong litigation. It saves parties from intricacies of
procedure and is concerned more with narrowing the differences and finding
settlement in accordance with natural justice, rules of equity and other legal principles
than with expatiating upon procedural complexities and their strict application. It is
based on jurisprudence of peace and provides a rendezvous for social amity and
affinity and social justice. It aims at promoting larger interest, harmony, comity and
policy and jurisprudential cohesion and environment. Looking to the present situation
in the country the role of Lok Adalat assumes higher degree of importance.
Legal status for Lok Adalat: The Lok Adalat, a specie of conciliatory agency, proved
to be very popular in providing for a speedier system of administration of justice at
lessor costs. The success of these Lok Adalats in taking justice to the doorsteps of
poor and the needy and making justice quicker and less expensive raised a new ray of
hope for those who could not otherwise afford to fight the protracted costly legal
battle for assertion and protection of their rights under the law. The institution
received wide support from concerned citizens and spread to disputes of diverse and
varied nature and resolved cases pertaining to compoundable criminal complaints,
civil and revenue disputes, MACT cases, and even institutional cases (cases where
one of the parties is an institution, such as, municipality or a corporation). The
number of cases resolved by these Lok Adalats also began to reflect on the workload
of our regular Courts. The institution of Lok Adalats was, however, functioning as a
voluntary agency without any statutory backing for its decisions. In view of its
growing popularity, there was demand for providing a statutory backing to this
institution and the awards given by Lok Adalats. It was being felt that such a statutory
support would not only reduce the burden of arrears of work in regular courts, but
would also provide social justice and serve to achieve the constitutional mandate
under Article 39 A. The Government was convinced that this admirable alternate
dispute settlement mechanism shall now only reduce the burden of arrears of work in
regular courts, but would also take justice to the doorsteps of the poor and the needy
and make justice quicker and less expensive and felt that if the Lok Adalats were
given statutory status they could function more effectively. Therefore, the
Government in exercise of its duty under Article 39 A drafted the Legal Services
Authorities Bill 1987 and the same was enacted by the Parliament as Act No. 39 of
1987, acknowledging the institution of Lok Adalat and giving statutory status to Lok
Adalats. However, the Act was brought into force with effect from 9-11-1995, almost
eight years after its enactment.